West Virginia University West Virginia University Collections Colson Hall, University Avenue West Virginia Mountain Lair, student union Morgantown West Virginia 26505
Date:
March 1967-1971.; Cast 1971.; Dedicated Oct. 30, 1971
Notes:
Save Outdoor Sculpture, West Virginia survey, 1992.
Morgantown Post (Morgantown, WV), Feb. 14, 1968.
Morgantown Post (Morgantown, WV), Oct. 29, 1971.
Summary:
A standing male allegorical figure representing the spirit of the men who established the frontier and settled the state of West Virginia. The bronze statue of a mountaineer wears 'buckskins' with fringe along the arms, down the sides of the legs, and at the hem of the thigh-length shirt. He is posed in a heroic stance with feet spaced wide and standing atop a geometric outcropping of rock. His face is handsome and angular with high cheekbones, aqualine nose and prominent chin and jaw. His head is turned fully to his proper right shoulder and his hair and the fringe on his clothing are depicted as if blowing in a stiff wind.
His hands are oversized and powerful. He holds a long barreled flintlock rifle in his proper right hand, resting it against his proper right upper thigh. The barrel of the gun points down and across in front of his legs. His proper left hand holds a 'coon skin' cap against the thigh and knee of his proper left leg. On his waist at the proper left side is a large bladed knife in a sheath and at the proper right side is a powderhorn attached to a cord which hangs around his neck. His clothing is depicted as if the wind were blowing it tight against him, revealing his powerful and muscular body.
His moccasin-clad feet curve over the stylized rock outcroppings on which he stands. The base of the sculpture is a roughly shaped boulder.
